What not to do in RU

[BattleStar]

The observant type may notice by now the majority if my thread in one sub-forum come from another sub-forum. I though saw this thread as both a fun and serious contributation to the RU forum and hope it can raise activity around here.

So here is the gerneal gist:

You will post with one aspect of something in RU that people do but would not do if they were good players. This could vary from using a certain move, Pokemon, core or play style. You just can't say something and have it as a one liner post. Make sure to back up the point you stated. Other may argue with you.

Here is an example and the first one

1# Don't create a team without a Nidoqueen check.

Reason: Nidoqueen currently is one of the if not the largest threat in the RU metagame. I seem it myself when you are able to tear apart whole teams that are unprepared. You should also have a solid Nidoqueen check. The key to taking down nido is to take advantage of her slow speed and how she gets worn down from hits. The true counters of Nidoqueen are clefable and the lesser seen Munchlax. Both are not able to be 2HKOed by her and can wear her down. Several other checks are present such as Gardevoir and Kabutops.

[Phazon00]

#2- Never, ever make a team without a scarfer.

This should be a no-brainer. All RU Teams should have at least one Poke with a Choice Scarf, because otherwise you'll always lose the speed race.

#3- Moltres + No Spinner = HORRIBLE IDEA

If you use Moltres, believe me, you MUSTMUSTMUST have a Rapid Spinner. That 4x Weakness to Rocks is killer, and without something to clear away the Rocks, your Moltres will be about as useful as a Moonbeam.

#4- Munchlax.

NEVER. USE. THIS. THING. This thing is complete and utter garbage. It cannot do any damage, it is easy Taunt Bait, it has no reliable recovery, bad stats besides HP, it's 3HKOed by some special attacks (Reeeeal good special wall) and it is a complete one-trick pony.

DONT. USE. IT.

[Pocket]

Actually you can make many successful RU teams without a scarfer. That's what I really like about RU, because all offensive threats can be checked by bulky tanks, naturally faster Pokemon, or powerful priority from Kabutops, Spiritomb, Entei, etc.

[Phazon00]

Yeah, but it is generally a good idea. If you're just starting in RU, making a team without one might not be the best of ideas.

[Molk]

#5: Run a team that doesnt have a way of disposing of cresselia

Cresselia is perhaps the biggest threat in RU atm, and her monster bulk makes her quite the defensive threat, it isnt rare to see teams where half of the opponents team is walled by the space duck. If you can help it, please make sure you have a way to dispose of this defensive behemoth or you simply wont succeed in RU. Thankfully there are multiple ways to take her out. Drapion, Absol, and Escavalier are all examples of excellent Cresselia checks. They can all come in on cress at least once and either set up on it (Drapion, Absol) or just take it out with a power super effective STAB (Escavalier). These pokemon have plenty of use outside of checking cress as well, so they shouldnt be too hard to fit on a team :3.

[Dark Fallen Angel]

Originally Posted by Fat Molk

#5: Run a team that doesnt have a way of disposing of cresselia

Cresselia is perhaps the biggest threat in RU atm, and her monster bulk makes her quite the defensive threat, it isnt rare to see teams where half of the opponents team is walled by the space duck. If you can help it, please make sure you have a way to dispose of this defensive behemoth or you simply wont succeed in RU. Thankfully there are multiple ways to take her out. Drapion, Absol, and Escavalier are all examples of excellent Cresselia checks. They can all come in on cress at least once and either set up on it (Drapion, Absol) or just take it out with a power super effective STAB (Escavalier). These pokemon have plenty of use outside of checking cress as well, so they shouldnt be too hard to fit on a team :3.

Isn't Cresselia a BL2 Pokémon? (iow, prohibited in RU)

[Molk]

Originally Posted by Fat Dark Fallen Angel

Isn't Cresselia a BL2 Pokémon? (iow, prohibited in RU)

It has been unbanned along with durant until november 11th for a retest

[DTC]

Originally Posted by Fat Phazon00

#3- Moltres + No Spinner = HORRIBLE IDEA

If you use Moltres, believe me, you MUSTMUSTMUST have a Rapid Spinner. That 4x Weakness to Rocks is killer, and without something to clear away the Rocks, your Moltres will be about as useful as a Moonbeam.

Spinning is not the only way to remove Stealth Rock from the field. There is also offensive pressure. Moltres does not need Stealth Rock removed from the field to be effective, either; it has solid bulk and the move Roost so it is not that hard to recover back health. I agree Moltres is much less threatening when Stealth Rock is on the field, but it is not atrocious and it is not a stupid idea to use Moltres without a spinner.

[Phazon00]

DTC is right, offensive pressure can remove rocks. But with things like Sturdy Crustle, sometimes Pokes just suicide for the rocks. Also, with a 50% HP Moltres, it is way too easy to pick it off with priority, or scarfers. Also, the best spinner, Kabutops, has good synergy with Moltres. Just sayin' it's a very good idea to pair Moltres with a spinner, as it makes it a much bigger threat.

[BattleStar]

#6
Know how to deal with Durant and Cresselia. With the metagame now having Cress and Durant unbanned one should be knowledgable in what to do when faced with these pokemon. The biggest mistakes you can make with these guys is A) having an unprepared team and B) letting set up. Without any boost both pokemon are manageable. They become real threats when they acquire some boost. So it is best to also try and stop this and Cary checks.

[Omicron]

Have some way to deal with priority moves. I hv seen countless teams get wrecked by that last mon Entei with ExtremeSpeed or Absol with Sucker Punch. Priority moves run rampant in RU, and if you don't have a way to deal with them either through tanks, your own priority moves, etc, then you're already at a disadvantage. Of course, there's smart play with non-attacking moves, but that won't always be a luxury you'll have.

[littlelucario]

#6: Never have a team that can't deal with sceptile and/or gallade

[ryanr554]

#7: Put Shadow Sneak on a defensive Dusknoir. Dusknoir already doesn't hit very hard with semi powerful moves but using Shadow Sneak is doing even more pathetic damage and the priority is just not worth it.

[WelshDragonite]

#8 Not running a Special Wall that can counter Nidoqueen or Sceptile: For a good team you might as well need a Special wall to counter the likes of Sheer force LO Nidoqueen or Choice specs Sceptile. Uxie can be used to counter Nidoqueen or Sceptile by either putting it to sleep by using Yawn or Trick the Lagging Tail to render them almost useless but if Sceptile is running choice specs, you can save the specs for later to cripple physical sweepers. There is nothing wrong with running a team with special wall.

[HuntSaboteur]

#9: Running a team without any Fire resists.

I know this sounds typical, but it truly is a mistake. Especially not having an Entei counter. The Fire-using opponent's strategy becomes simply to save the Fire for the end and just sweep. Ground types don't count, unless they have 95 or more base Speed. I encountered one recently and it was one of the easiest teams to win against in the last month.

#10. Not having both a physical and a special hit absorber.

I don't really need to explain this. Preferably, three hit absorbers should be used, with at least one serving a more tankish purpose.

[Molk]

#11. Never build a hail team that cant deal with Fire, Fighting, and Rock moves.

Man i see new players making this mistake so much, just because its a hail team doesnt give you the excuse to slack off with your teambuilding and slap on 6 Ice-types, in fact, that is probably worst possible thing you could do when building a hail team. Ice is probably the worst defensive type in the game, its weak to 3 really common attacking types along with Stealth Rock, and any competent hail team should have a way around this. There are plenty of options for combating these types including Poliwrath, Slowking, Regirock, Qwilfish, Spiritomb and more! Theres no excuse not to try one on your hail team to cover its weakness to Gallade or Entei or Escavalier, if anything, it will improve your team tenfold.

[Silvershadow234]

#12. Not having a way to deal with Smeargle.

Smeargle can set-up SR+1 layer of spikes and sleep a mon with ridiculous ease, and unless you have a solid way around it then you will be completely helpless as a barrage of powerful sweepers abuse the hazards, holding all of the momentum.

Luckily, there are a lot of ways around Smeargle. Using faster Lum Berry pokemon, such as Gallade or Uxie is a decent way to stop smeargle, as is the mighty Crustle, which can Shell Smash turn 1 and then rocks blast smeargle to death, and thanks to the lum berry it can take the spore. Vital Spirit pokemon, such as magmortar, can also limit smeargle to one layer of hazards. Using fast taunters is an excellent way, as then smeargle gets no layers what so ever. Fast qwilfish is a good example of this.

@welsh dragonite: that would mean you have to run a bulky psychic / bulky normal on every single team for nidoqueen, and countering sceptile is incredibly difficult due to it's unpredictability(acrobatics and special sets have completely different counters). IMO, having a check or answer to both of these is a much better choice, as both are incredibly difficult to outright counter on offensive team.

[celever]

#13: Running Dusknoir
Come on people, it's not even good at being a spin-blocker, it can't hit the spinners in RU for anything decent. It's much like dusclops in UU, so if I may take a quote "it only dies slowly"!

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

#14: Sandslash / Evire

If you are running Sandslash or Evire, stop now. Neither of these two have any sort of merit in the RU tier. Sandslash is a very mediocre spinner who will rarely, if ever, get a chance to spin. And as for Stealth Rock, use Nidoqueen or Steelix. Or any SR user in general. SD? Just use Kabutops. As for Evire. It's trash. It can't even OHKO Roselia with Ice Punch. It is that weak. Just use a better offensive Pokemon.

[Tiffanyy]

Posts like "Don't use A poke because its bad" should really stop. It doesn't really add to the whole mindset of this thread.

[Nails]

Originally Posted by Fat ScraftyIsTheBest

#14: Sandslash / Evire

If you are running Sandslash or Evire, stop now. Neither of these two have any sort of merit in the RU tier. Sandslash is a very mediocre spinner who will rarely, if ever, get a chance to spin. And as for Stealth Rock, use Nidoqueen or Steelix. Or any SR user in general. SD? Just use Kabutops. As for Evire. It's trash. It can't even OHKO Roselia with Ice Punch. It is that weak. Just use a better offensive Pokemon.

Molk stop posting on that account.

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Originally Posted by Fat Nails

Molk stop posting on that account.

Just FYI I am not Molk.

[BattleStar]

I sense some shenanigan afoot, better check irc later to see what's up. Anyways I beg to differ with Sandslash. It has enough viability in this metagame, being able to do its job fairly well. I would say it is one of the best spinner around. Not many other spinners are as successful beating spin blockers like Sandslash.

[Swamp-Rocket]

Originally Posted by Fat ScraftyIsTheBest

Just FYI I am not Molk.

I think that means "stop bashing Pokemon in all of your posts..."

#15 (I guess) - Giving a "random Pokemon" a Choice Scarf

Oftentimes people are inclinced to put a Choice Scarf on a powerful-ish Pokemon such as Galvantula and Moltres or somewhat slow Pokemon such as Aggron, intending for them to act as "revenge killers" or "cleaners," or a way for them to bump up their normally poor speed stats of sorts. However, there are many factors to consider when giving a Pokemon a Choice Scarf. One is the accuracy of their moves - Emboar can act as a cleaner since its moves are all fairly accurate yet Powerful (both 100% accuracy), but giving it to something such as Aggron will unfortunately often make them end up missing when they crucially need it. Sometimes, a Pokemon may still end up being "too slow" or just not powerful enough with a Choice Scarf if they decide to run a Jolly or Timid Nature. Finally - this is really important - being weak to Stealth Rock is awful for a Pokemon that will need to perform many, many times, which is what makes Galvantula, Moltres, and Typhosion usually mediocre choices - Choice Scarfers need a lot of shots to perform, and being weak to Stealth Rock is almost asking yourself to revenge kill less often, of put yourself in the range of getting finished off by that priority move. You can't just give a random Pokemon a Choice Scarf and expect it to work well - that Pokemon should have advantages such as a resistance or neutrality to Stealth Rock, an accurate yet powerful cleaning move, or the ability to easily gain momentum and screw over the opponent with someting such as Trick or Switcheroo (which is why something such as Manectric is good)

[Frog]

Lol Molk is the only one that seems to know what he is doing.

#10. Not having both a physical and a special hit absorber.

I don't really need to explain this. Preferably, three hit absorbers should be used, with at least one serving a more tankish purpose.

Or you could run hyper offense (scolipede/nidoqueen/feraligatr/sceptile/absol/emboar)

#8 Not running a Special Wall that can counter Nidoqueen or Sceptile: For a good team you might as well need a Special wall to counter the likes of Sheer force LO Nidoqueen or Choice specs Sceptile. Uxie can be used to counter Nidoqueen or Sceptile by either putting it to sleep by using Yawn or Trick the Lagging Tail to render them almost useless but if Sceptile is running choice specs, you can save the specs for later to cripple physical sweepers. There is nothing wrong with running a team with special wall.
Uxie doesnt counter nidoqueen or sceptile.

just a few but most of these are specific to peoples playstyles